Leverhulme Centre

Four collaborative research projects at the University of Cambridge have been awarded funding in the first round of awards from the UK-India Education and Research Initiative (UKIERI).

Our ability to share ideas and cross disciplinary boundaries with academic partners is of key importance in maintaining our stature around the world."

Professor Dame Alison Richard

Four collaborative research projects at the University of Cambridge have been awarded funding in the first round of awards from the UK-India Education and Research Initiative (UKIERI).

The UKIERI awards are part of the largest ever education initiative between the two countries designed to encourage research in areas of interest and benefit to both countries.

The University of Cambridge's Leverhulme Centre for Human Evolutionary Studies and the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology, Hyderabad, India, have been awarded £500,000 for a joint research project on genomics (the study of an organism's entire genome). They will be attempting to determine the chronological and geographical pattern of the modern human's dispersal out of Africa into Europe and the role that India played in this migration.

In addition to this major award, the University of Cambridge received three awards worth £150,000. Dr Cameron Petrie, of the Department of Archaeology, has received funding for a collaborative project with scholars from the Centre for Historical Studies, Jawaharial Nehru University and a number of other UK and Indian centres of excellence. Their research will explore the cultural and geographical transformation of north west India between 2000 and 300 BC, which is marked by the collapse of the Bronze Age Harappan urban civilisation in India and the rise of the great Iron Age Early Historic cities.

Dr Ashwin A. Seshia, of the Cambridge University Nanoscience Centre, will be collaborating with the Department of Mechanical Engineering, Indian Institute of Science, on a research project exploring novel mechanisms to enhance micron-scale precision sensing technology with implications for applications such as inertial navigation and microrobotics.

Professor Sir Michael Pepper at the Cavendish Laboratory was awarded funding for a collaborative research initiative with the Department of Physics, Indian Institute of Science, into 'fluctuation-based quantum information processing with semiconductor nanostructures'.

Professor Dame Alison Richard, former Vice Chancellor of the University of Cambridge, said, "Our ability to share ideas and cross disciplinary boundaries with academic partners is of key importance in maintaining our stature around the world. These awards will facilitate projects that ensure our work is truly global in its reach."

Bill Rammell, MP, Minister of State for Lifelong Learning, Further and Higher Education, said, ""I am delighted that UKIERI has generated tremendous interest from institutions both here in the UK and in India, competition for these research collaboration awards has been extremely fierce. I would like to offer my congratulations to the award winners and believe that these collaborations will enhance greatly the wider UK-India relationship."


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